HILO — The Monday morning malfunction of a City and County of Honolulu mainframe computer has become a statewide problem for anyone seeking to obtain or renew a driver’s license, register a motor vehicle or get a state identification card.
“As the statewide database, this computer issue is … impacting driver licensing centers in Hawaii County, Kauai County and Maui County, and we ask for the patience of those residents,” Sheri Kajiwara, director of the Department of Customer Services for the City and County of Honolulu, said in a written statement.
According to a subsequent statement issued Tuesday, “The problem stemmed from the compatibility between newly installed mainframe hardware and existing software.”
Naomi O’Dell, who’s in charge of driver licensing and vehicle registration for the Hawaii County Department of Finance, said offices in Hilo, Kona, Waimea, Pahoa and Ka‘u have been mostly unable to serve customers since the start of business Monday.
“It was taking longer than normal to log in,” O’Dell said Tuesday afternoon about the slow computers staff noticed when they started the day. “And then, when they were trying to process (transactions), to switch screens was taking a very long time. And then, some people got locked out. And I think it went down at 8:30 or so.”
The offices remained open, but personnel were limited in the ways they could serve customers, O’Dell said.
“We’ve been doing our road tests because our appointments are so fully booked. But we cannot process any licenses,” she noted.
A steady trickle of people attempted to renew their vehicle registrations during lunchtime Tuesday at Aupuni Center in Hilo, but were turned away.
“It’s a mess,” said Brenda Cadaoas of Pahoa. “I came down three times yesterday and now today.”
Danny Li of Keaau said he saw a news item related to the computer issue but thought it was limited to Honolulu.
“I’ve got time and I could mail it in, but I thought I’d do this since I’m in town,” he said. “Talk about being a prisoner to (artificial intelligence) and automation. … Pretty soon every aspect of our life is going to be subject to breakdown of machines.”
Ray Mauk of Keaau described the inconvenience as “annoying, but it’s not the end of the world.”
“And it will be in the mailbox tomorrow instead of today, because there is a box right here, and I didn’t bring an envelope with me,” he said, pointing to a public mailbox stationed right outside the vehicle registration office. “It’s hard to find these nowadays. There aren’t nearly as many as there used to be.”
The Rev. Kahiki Hodson of Keaau said he attempted to renew his registration both Monday and Tuesday.
“There’s no line for the first time, but unfortunately, they can’t do nothing in there,” he quipped. “Well, I’m glad I’m a pastor because God’s office never goes down. It’s always open.”
It’s unclear how long it will take to resume full operations for those seeking driver’s licenses, vehicle registration and state IDs. The City and County of Honolulu said that, for today, it “will continue to perform scheduled road tests and walk-ins as appropriate, but all other services will be unavailable.”
“If this thing continues, we are going to grant extensions,” said Janet Snyder, spokeswoman for Big Island Mayor Harry Kim, for people who may be facing renewal deadlines.
“We’re just all anxious to start servicing people,” O’Dell added. “This is the end of the month, so it’s an especially busy time for us.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
